The Cage of Zeus (8 page)

“More like nostalgia,” answered Shirosaki. “Homes like these exist only on Earth now, and not everyone can afford to build a home from such expensive materials as wood.”

“The materials here are from the trees grown in the special district. Wood is quite handy for maintaining the humidity and temperature.”

“How do you manage to grow cedars and cypress trees in this space?”

“They’re genetically engineered dwarf breeds, so they only grow to about six feet. The wood boards are laid over a framework built from synthetic materials.”

“Are all of the units like this?”

“They’re all designed a bit differently, but basically, yes. We Rounds don’t have any experience living on the planets, so I can’t speak to your feelings of nostalgia. We’re only using the wood because it’s a useful material. How nice you find it pleasing.”

They stepped inside the living room and found another Round. When ey looked up from whatever ey was doing, Shirosaki instantly recognized eir masculine qualities. Ey appeared to be younger than Fortia. A young man. When Fortia asked em to make them some tea, ey nodded and disappeared into the kitchen.

Fortia offered Kline and Shirosaki a seat on the sofa.

“My partner, Album. I suppose that makes us husband and wife in your society.”

Having assumed they were siblings, Shirosaki replied flatly, “I see.”

As estranged as the Rounds were from Monaural society, the interior and furnishings were completely Earth-inspired. Perhaps the Rounds had yet to come into their own in this aspect of culture or they simply accepted whatever tools were practical. Or perhaps they were deliberately being made to use these familiar items in order to minimize the differences between Rounds and Monaurals.

Shirosaki looked up at the ceiling. There was a skylight above the living room. He didn’t exactly know why a house would need a skylight in a place where no sky existed, but maybe this too was another cultural influence adopted from Monaural society. No doubt the skylight had been incorporated into the design more as a novelty than for its functionality.

Album returned and placed several sealed containers of tea on the table. Although eir bony fingers were in no way delicate, after having heard the two were husband and wife, Shirosaki couldn’t help but feel strangely attracted to them. He felt discomfited by the inescapable tendency to distinguish the Rounds by his own standards of gender. After thanking Album, he took one of the heated containers and opened the seal. He felt the warm tea go down his throat, along with the sensation that he had not quite caught up to the reality of the special district.

“Do you mind if Album joins us?” Fortia asked. “Ey is also an assistant superintendent of the special district.”

“Of course not,” Shirosaki replied. Then he proceeded to explain why the security staff was being doubled. How a terrorist group called the Vessel of Life was plotting to destroy the special district. How the terrorists would likely come in on one of the cargo vessels. How he and his security team were familiarizing themselves with the facilities in the event of a battle.

Fortia and Album listened without a hint of emotion.

Their non-reaction made Shirosaki uneasy. Isolated as they were in the special district, were they unable to understand how frightening a terrorist threat was? Perhaps they didn’t comprehend how violent the humans on Mars and Earth were.

After Shirosaki warned them of the possibility of a shoot-out inside the docking bays, Fortia turned to Kline. “Isn’t the construction of
Apertio
complete yet?”

“Not for another three years. There are also supplies to procure. We’re not anywhere near launching it.”

“It doesn’t matter where, as long as we can get far enough away from the Monaurals. Maybe the terrorists will give up if we can somehow get as far as Saturn.”

“Colonizing Saturn isn’t possible yet. There’s still so much data to collect and so many issues to resolve,” Kline reminded em.

“What about Venus or Mercury?”

“Their environments are too severe.”

“It’s been three generations. We can’t continue to depend on the Monaurals forever.”

“Is there a plan to move the Rounds?” Shirosaki cut in reluctantly. “And what is
Apertio
?”

“The Rounds are preparing to participate in experiments to establish settlements beyond Jupiter,” Kline answered. “As I explained earlier, the Rounds are, on the record, a race engineered for the express purpose of space exploration.”

“Do you mean to tell me they’re acting as human subjects in our place?”

“To put it bluntly, yes.”

“But they must be terrified,” Shirosaki said. “Or at least resistant.”

Fortia laughed. “I’m proud to be a Round. I will be venturing into uncharted space before any Monaural, testing the limits of my skills to gather valuable data. That data will serve as the foundation for when the Monaurals are ready to journey farther into space. I have been entrusted with a wonderful and rewarding job. We’re capable of doing the work no unmanned probe will be able to handle in your stead. We’ll die satisfied, even if it means cutting short our lives. Didn’t you Monaurals embark on space exploration with those same high aspirations all those many years ago? That’s what we Rounds are trying to do now. For all of humanity.”

Fortia spoke with unwavering conviction, eir voice revealing not even a hint of doubt.

Unlike Shirosaki, who’d return to Mars when his job here was done, the Rounds had only Jupiter-I and unexplored space. They had no home. They were like human probes, destined to travel deeper and deeper into space to gather data for as long as they lived.

“I’m willing to undergo any physical change to adapt to space. We may be nothing more than imitations of Monaurals now, but we don’t have to be human if that’s what it takes to adapt. A new being. I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

“The construction of a vessel is now under way on Asteroid City,” explained Kline. “A supership capable of towing the special district—that’s the
Apertio
.”

“The special district
entirely
?”

“Jupiter-I is shaped like a cored pineapple before it’s cut into round slices. The special district will be cut away from the rest of the space station, just like one of those slices, and will head for Saturn towed by the supership.”

“I see. So the special district was designed to be part of a long-term exploration vessel from the start.”

“One that can be cut loose by removing just a few screws. Or perhaps it’s more like cutting it away with an enormous knife,” Fortia said. “The current threat will not be the end of the Vessel of Life’s activities. Eventually we will have to leave the space station.”

“The people on Earth and Mars are afraid that the technology enabling us to become bigender will make its way into their societies,” Album said. “They’ll come after us as long as we’re within reach. That’s why we need to get out of here.”

“But I thought there were laws forbidding this technology from leaving the station.”

“The Monaurals don’t give a damn about that. All they feel is hate and repulsion. When I hear all of the horrible incidents happening on Earth and Mars, I can see there’s no negotiating with them.”

“If that were true, humanity would have perished long ago.”

“All Monaurals are good at is preserving the status quo,” Album said. “They only care about what’s in it for them; they’re not interested in discussing solutions.”

“That’s enough politics,” Fortia said severely. “You’re being rude to our guests.”

Smiling crookedly, Album leaned back on the sofa and said nothing more.

“The people on Earth and Mars are afraid their next generation will be injected with the double-I chromosomes,” said Kline. “With the inclusion of bigenders in their society, the old concepts of gender and sex will be completely destroyed. This is what the Vessel of Life fears most. The idea of one human possessing both sexes baffles them. At best, they may understand the concept of changing from one sex to another. To them, surgically transplanting sexual organs is nothing more than the act of a deviant, never mind switching XX and XY for double-I chromosomes.”

“Isn’t it your job to ensure that technology doesn’t get leaked?”

“Any information that exists will eventually be leaked, as long as there is someone coveting it.”

“Are you suggesting that people are after double-I for themselves even though the Vessel of Life opposes it?” Shirosaki asked.

“Naturally. Humans desire change even while they desire stasis. And generally speaking, they prefer to change physically before they do psychologically.”

“But you didn’t seem very shocked to see us, Commander Shirosaki,” Fortia noted.

“Shocked enough, I assure you. I’ve been trained to control my emotions.”

“Not everyone on the security team is like you.”

“Are you talking about Harding?”

“I’m not speaking only of him. Usually Monaurals react oddly when they first see us, like they don’t quite know where to look.” Fortia continued, “Tell me something. If you were able, would you choose to be transplanted with double-I? Would you choose to change your sex chromosomes?”

“Thank you, but no. I’m perfectly satisfied being a man,” Shirosaki said.

“It appears you’re someone we can trust,” Fortia said, smiling for the first time. “You’re not like Commander Harding. You’re not trying to understand us or seeking our friendship. And that’s just fine. We don’t need Monaurals to understand us. All you need to know is that we exist on Jupiter-I. We need you to protect us. There’s absolutely no need for any sort of human interaction between the Rounds and Monaurals.”

“What has Harding done? Why do you dislike him?”

“That’s none of your concern.” Fortia said nothing more.

Kline did not offer an answer. Album let slip a sneer.

Clearly something had happened that hadn’t been reported to Captain Hasukawa. As much as this troubled Shirosaki, he kept silent. That no report had been filed no doubt spelled some sort of scandal best kept private. Although Harding seemed to dislike Kline and the Rounds, the problem seemed to stem from him.

Shirosaki left Fortia’s residence with Kline without learning any more about the matter.

2

AS ARINO WENT
through his workout routine in the training room, he thought back to his encounter with Tei in the meeting room. That cold smile. Had it been one of contempt? A ridiculing look the younger generation directed at the older set? The look of disdain the arrogant cast upon an inferior?

Biologically speaking, Arino understood how the Rounds were equipped and how they procreated. But as much as he understood intellectually, how he felt was another matter.

What was the Rounds’ sexual orientation according to Monaural standards? Would they be considered homosexual since they all had the same physiology? Or would they be considered bisexual because they had intercourse as both sexes?

It was nothing he could understand. A concept beyond convention, and yet, one that might become commonplace in the future.

The unfamiliar had the power to both frighten and tantalize at the same time. People grew all the more drawn to what was taboo.

Tei looked just like them—like normal humans. Spoke English and dressed like them and ate like them. The difference lay in the sexual organs. But Arino was puzzled by the way that difference alone made Tei seem something other than human to him.

They had been the ones to create the Rounds. Had they been as scared when childbirth was made possible through artificial insemination? What about when the first humanoid robot was built? Why were they so discomfited and bewildered by the simple fact of gaining one sexual type?

After finishing his workout, Arino went into the locker room and showered.

He threw on some fresh clothes and dragged his sluggish body toward the residential district assigned to the security staff.

As spacious as Jupiter-I was, it was still only as large as a standard space station. Learning the layout of the station and visiting each of the facilities had taken all of three days. The security team’s mission didn’t begin in earnest until the first cargo vessel arrived. Thus far, their scheduled patrols had been strictly routine and did nothing more than demonstrate they were earning their keep.

In his boredom, Arino’s thoughts wandered to the special district. Shirosaki’s team had no active contact with Harding’s team. Once the terrorist threat was put down, Harding’s team would go back to Mars, so the two teams had no reason to fraternize. They exchanged nothing more than a few pleasantries even when they bumped into each other in the mess, recreation room, or training room.

But because no one on Shirosaki’s team aside from Shirosaki himself was allowed to enter the special district, their curiosity only intensified. Most of the members tried to learn as much about the Rounds as they could from the snatches of conversation with those on Harding’s team.

But none of the members of Harding’s team was very forthcoming on the subject. No matter how much they were questioned, they dodged the questions and inevitably said, “Look, if your commander’s telling you to stay out of the special district, I’d listen. The Rounds aren’t some animals you can gawk at. You can’t stare at them. Another incident will only spell trouble for the station staff. After a while, you’ll forget that the Rounds even exist.”

None of this satisfied Shirosaki’s team, however. Every time they gathered in the mess and the recreation room, they traded gossip and indulged in wild conjecture. After several members of Harding’s team had given them both dirty looks and warnings, Shirosaki’s team members took to speaking in Japanese, not just about the Rounds but on all matters. Although Arino didn’t approve, he decided to monitor the situation until Shirosaki gave him a direct order to intercede.

After making several turns along the corridor, he came upon a mother carrying a baby walking from the other direction. Dressed in a quarter-sleeved one-piece dress, the woman had long blond hair that was tied in back.

Arino was surprised to see children on the space station. He smiled, remembering his own wife and daughter.